Data journalism in broadcast news and video: 27 examples to inspire and educate
The best-known examples of data journalism tend to be based around text and visuals — but it’s harder to find data journalism in video and audio. Ahead of the launch of my new MA in Data Journalism I thought I would share my list of the examples of video data journalism that I use with students in exploring data storytelling across multiple platforms. If you have others, I’d love to hear about them.
Freedom of Information stories are one of the most common situations when broadcasters will have to deal with more in-depth data. These are often brought to life by through case studies and interviewing experts.
In 2015, for example, a former and then-current MA student worked with the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme on FOI responses from 42 police forces relating to violence in schools. The online version of the story included an interview with a former teacher affected by the issue (captured in the gif above).
Other British examples include this ITV story on mental health trusts cutting beds, and this Channel 4 Dispatches piece on benefit sanctions. And I keep a list of other FOI-based stories by the BBC here.
In Canada Fifth Estate’s Rate My Hospital investigation in 2013 featured a number of case study and expert video clips online, this time more presenter-led, while also in Canada this Global News story on pit bull attacks uses charts and tables online, but vox pops and archive clips in the (embedded) broadcast treatment. You can also watch broadcast treatments of stories by their data journalist Patrick Cain into car testing and problem gambling.
Another data journalist in a broadcast organisation is Tisha Thompson at NBCUniversal. Her examples include “collecting rape statistics when the military refuses to hand them over” (more here); government employees accused of stealing the beer they’re supposed to be delivering (more here). (Tisha says this is “Why you should make your own database, especially when the government doesn’t do it”); water quality in Virginia and Maryland; high-end luxury and fashion brands on a list of government seizures; and potholes.
Hans Rosling, who died earlier this year, did much to popularise the use of statistics and data visualisation. His engaging presentation style led BBC4 to commission a series on “The Joy of Stats“.
